History Of The Sons Of Italy

 

History and Organizational Structure

 

Through a variety of philanthropic and social programs, OSIA represents the interests of America's approximately 24 million Italian Americans and cooperates with U.S. and Italian officials to strengthen trade, diplomatic, cultural, and educational opportunities.

OSIA also works with other organizations to unite all Americans in our multicultural society so that we may live in greater harmony and enjoy the benefits of the principles for which the United States was founded and for which immigrants settled in America--life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a nation where all men and women are presumed to be created equal.

Objectives Include:

OSIA continues to thrive, meeting the initial objectives of its founders through a wide variety of community, cultural, social, charitable, educational, patriotic, youth, and civic activities.

Organizational Structure

History

OSIA was established in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City on June 22, 1905, by Vincenzo Sellaro, M.D., and five other fellow immigrants from Italy who came to the United States during the great Italian migration of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During its history, OSIA has been involved in promoting immigration legislation; assisting in the assimilation process; supporting cooperation, trade, and diplomatic relations between the United States and Italy; initiating social and fraternal events; encouraging educational achievement through scholarships; serving local communities through a variety of cultural events and raising funds for local charities; and providing low-cost group financial investments and insurance programs for the benefit of members nationwide. Today, OSIA is the oldest, largest, and most demographically diverse association of American men and women of Italian descent. Since the organization's beginning, men and women have shared equal status within the organization, as do individuals of all ages and professions.

Click here to read a more detailed article on OSIA founder Vincenzo Sellaro.


Dr. Vincenzo Sellaro
Founder, Order Sons of Italy in America
By Joseph Scafetta Jr.

Vincenzo Sellaro (April 24, 1868 - Nov. 28 1932), a medical doctor and the founder of the Order Sons of Italy in America, was born in Polizzi Generosa in the province of Palermo, Sicily, as the oldest of the five children of Giuseppe Sellaro, a shoemaker, and his wife, Serafina Polizzotto. As was customary in southern Italy, the first boy was named after his paternal grandfather.

He received his medical degree in 1895 from the University of Naples and emigrated in 1897 to the United States where he settled in New York City. He took post graduate courses at the Cornell Medical School and founded the Columbus Italian Hospital where he was the chief gynecologist. He later joined the American Medical Association and conducted research on diabetes and cancer. Subsequently, he organized a school for midwives under the auspices of the New York City Health Board.

In September 1903, he married Maria Lignante, a native of Naples, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. They had three children: Serafina, Cecilia, and Angelo.

He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1904 and sent one-way boat tickets for his two brothers and two sisters to come to New York. His widowed father also came, but shortly thereafter he returned to Italy. While his two sisters soon married other Italian immigrants, one brother, Salvatore, became a pharmacist and the other brother Gandolfo became an attorney.

During that same year, Sellaro conceived the idea of uniting all Italian Americans into one large fraternal organization. For most immigrants to the United States and Canada, mutual aid societies had provided opportunities for them to speak their native tongues and to keep their "old country" customs alive. For Italian immigrants, the mutual aid societies were more tightly knit by ties to the same town or province. Thus, the Italian-American mutual aid societies were important outlets for assistance to the immigrants, particularly from small rural areas, in adjusting to living in large urban industrial cities. Such assistance usually took the form of making information available about job opportunities, providing English-language education, conducting social events on weekends, and rendering financial aid to members during illnesses or to families when members died. These societies became so widespread in America by the turn of the century that there were about 2,000 such Italian groups in the city of New York alone.

On June 7, 1905, an organizational meeting was held at Sellaro's at 203 Grand Street in Manhattan. Attorney Michele Rini of Brooklyn prepared the Certificate of Incorporation and the document was notarized by Francis Colety on June 15, 1905. It was filed in the Office of the Secretary of State for New York on June 22 and the first formal meeting of the Order was held on June 29, 1905. At that meeting, Dr. Sellaro was elected supreme venerable (i.e. national president) of the Supreme Lodge of the Sons of Italy and Gerardo Franzo was elected assistant venerable (i.e. vice president). The name of the group was soon changed to the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA). A golden lion was adopted as its emblem and "Liberty, Equality & Fraternity" was chosen as the new organization's motto.

Dr. Sellaro then proceeded to write a national constitution and a ritual. He also founded the first local chapter, the Mario Rapisardi Lodge, #1, with 75 to 100 members on Aug. 31, 1905. Initially, lodges were named after Italian heroes and places. Rapisardi (1844-1912) was a poet and a professor of literature. By the end of 1905, there were eight local lodges in New York City and one in nearby Paterson, N.J.

As with any rapidly expanding new organization, there were growing pains. Because of internal discord, Sellaro resigned on July 9, 1908, and formed the Independent Order of the Sons of Italy. Dr. Antonio Rubino of Paterson, N.J., was elected to succeed him as supreme venerable of the OSIA. In 1909, Rubino was expelled. He was succeeded by another doctor from Paterson, Achille Sabatino, who initiated reunification talks. In Feb. 1910, Sellaro and the six lodges which left with him rejoined OSIA. On Jan. 10, 1911, the first Grand (State) Lodge was formed in New York to oversee the local lodges within its boundaries.

More rapid growth followed with the absorption of many mutual aid societies as new lodges. The first Supreme (National) Convention was convened in Paterson, N.J., on April 18 and 19, 1914. Thereafter in 1915, OSIA began publishing a weekly, but later a monthly newspaper, Bollettino Ufficiale (Official Bulletin). The name was subsequently changed to the OSIA News in 1946, and in 1996, the OSIA replaced the newspaper with a quarterly magazine, Italian America.

When the United States entered World War I in March 1917, Sellaro sought to be and was elected president of the Insurance Fund of the Grand Lodge of New York. He served in this position for the remaining 15 years of his life. During the 21 months of wartime, about 28,000 members of OSIA served in the U.S. military, of whom 975 were killed and 1,278 were wounded. The Order gave financial aid to families of members who were on active duty. By the end of the war in November 1918, the Order had 125,000 members in 960 lodges throughout 24 states and two Canadian provinces. In 1922, Sellaro was knighted by the Italian government for his aid to the Italian-American community and for establishing OSIA.

Sellaro later became interested in the Masons and was elected by the Garibaldi Masonic Lodge as a grand master. Before leaving office in 1928, Gov. Alfred E. Smith gave Sellaro the key to New York in recognition of the medical and social contributions that he had made to the community.

On Sept. 18, 1932, Sellaro was admitted as a patient to the hospital that he had founded. He was suffering from the effects of a chronic inflammation of the kidneys, a chronic inflammation of the heart muscle tissue, diabetes mellitus, and arteriosclerosis of the brain. He fought valiantly for his life for 72 days. He lapsed into a coma caused by excess urea in his blood and died at the age of 63.

His greatest contribution remains the founding of OSIA, which continues to be the largest and longest surviving Italian-American organization. Since its establishment, OSIA has evolved from being primarily a giant mutual aid society for Italian immigrants to being a social, patriotic, and charitable fraternity for Italian Americans. By 1997, OSIA has chartered more than 2,700 lodges throughout the United States and Canada; over 650 are currently active